Migration, Remittances and Climate Resilience in Tajikistan.Indd
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Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan Working paper Part I Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan April 2017 Zhanna Babagaliyeva Abdulkhamid Kayumov Nurullo Mahmadullozoda Nailya Mustaeva This report has been produced by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment of Population of the Republic of Tajikistan. The PRISE consortium is comprised of the Overseas Development Institute (lead institution), UK; Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, UK; Innovations Environnement Développement en Afrique, Senegal; and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan; with country research partners the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia; Kenya Markets Trust, Kenya; University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and the University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan. 2 Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan Acknowledgements CAREC would like to express its deepest gratitude to representatives of the PRISE Stakeholder Engagement Platform in Dushanbe, representing the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment, Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, academia, civil society organisations and international development partners, who provided valuable contributions to the development of this study. The authors would also like to express their deepest gratitude to colleagues from the Innovation Environment Development (IED Afrique) and Grantham Research Institute for the fruitful cooperation and active participation in meetings and discussions with key stakeholders of the project in Tajikistan. The team would like to thank the project’s donor – the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), as well as the project coordinator – the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) for providing coordination, guidance and technical assistance in preparation of this analytical work. Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan 3 4 Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan Contents Boxes, figures and tables .............................................. 6 Acronyms. ..................................................... 8 1 Introduction ..................................................... 10 2 A synoptic presentation of Tajikistan ................................... 11 3 Tajikistan’s vulnerability to climate change ............................... 14 4 Context of labour migration .......................................... 16 5 Remittances structure .............................................. 19 6 Development policies and measures ................................... 20 6.1 National development strategies and plans .......................... 20 6.2 Sector-based policies .......................................... 21 6.2.1 Policies and programmes for labour migrants in Tajikistan and Russia . 21 6.2.2 Policies and measures on climate resilience ..................... 24 6.2.3 Public and private finance programmes ........................ 24 7 Links between remittances and resilience ............................... 26 8 Key findings, conclusions and recommendations ......................... 27 8.1 Key findings and conclusions .................................... 27 8.2 Recommendations ............................................ 29 References ........................................................ 32 Appendices. Appendix 1: list of interviewees .............................. 34 Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan 5 Boxes, figures and tables Box 1 Tajikistan’s Human Development ...................................................11 Box 2 Average disasters per year 2005–2014 ..............................................15 Box 3 NDS (2007–2015): Key achievements ...............................................17 Box 4 Professional skills of labour migrants. .17 Box 5 National policy for climate change ..................................................20 Figure 1 The economic dependence analysis for 2010–2015 ....................................22 Figure 2 Remittances inflow dynamics in Tajikistan for 2010–2015, bln USD .........................22 Figure 3 Labour migrants’ education levels in 2004 and 2009, in % ...............................24 Table 1 The “Bovari” Loan of Bank Eskhata .................................................25 6 Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan 7 Acronyms Bln Billion CAREC Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia CIF Climate Investment Funds CIS Commonwealth of Independent States COP 21 21st Conference of Parties DRS Districts of Republican Subordination EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development GBAO Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region GDP Gross Domestic Product HPP Hydropower Plant ILO International Labour Organization INDC Intended Nationally Determined Contributions IOM International Organization for Migration IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change kWh Kilowatt/hour LAPA Local Adaptation Plans for Action MJ/m2 Megajoule/square meter MTO Money Transfer Operator MW Megawatt NDS National Development Strategy NGO Non-governmental organization OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe PPCR Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience SAL Semi-arid lands SDGs Sustainable Development Goals S&VEd Secondary and Vocational Education UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change USD United States Dollar 8 Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan Photo of Tajik pattern on fabric © Bakhriddin Isamutdinov Migration, remittances and climate resilience in Tajikistan 9 1. Introduction The “Migration, remittances, adaptation and resilience in arid and semi-arid regions of Senegal and Tajikistan” project is one of the research packages of the “Pathways to Resilience in Semi-Arid Economies” or PRISE. PRISE is a five-year, multi-country research project that generates new knowledge about how economic development in semi-arid regions can be made more equitable and resilient to climate change. PRISE is carried out under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), with financial support from the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DfID) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. The project covers Tajikistan and Senegal – the two countries where remittances’ contribution to economic development is significant. The Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC) is an implementing partner of the project in Tajikistan. The research is expected to provide solid evidence for enhancing socio- economic policies of the target countries to: (a) enhance management and coordination of labour migration between the host and destination countries, and (b) ensure more effective use of remittances for development to secure a long-term climate-resilient future of semi-arid economies of Tajikistan and Senegal. An important component of the proposed research area is the study of remittances as one of the direct and potentially positive outcomes of labour migration. Remittances might have a positive impact on livelihoods when labour migrants stay in contact with their families or communities. As long as this link is present, labour migration can contribute to poverty reduction and diversification of household incomes, as well as to provide better means for coping with crises or investing in sustainable livelihood activities. Meanwhile, the benefits of remittances and their efficient use could have significant outcomes for the recipient communities not only in terms of enhancing their livelihoods, but also contributing to adaptation to the consequences of climate change. As part of the research project, a multistep data collection approach was used to produce this paper. This includes: (a) a desk review of available literature on migration and remittances in Tajikistan and analysis of existing data, (b) a household survey to assess the level of awareness of key informants and household respondents about migration, remittances and their link with climate-resilient pathways. This will be then complemented with (c) a case study on gender aspects of remittances and climate resilience measures. The above steps will feed the comparative analysis of the findings, as well as commonalities and differences between Tajikistan and Senegal. Altogether, the above research stages will provide solid, up-to-date and accurate evidence and will guide (d) formulation of recommendations and developing a roadmap for a climate- resilient future through effective implementation of policies and more sustainable use of remittances1. Other objectives include2: The present Working Paper, part 1 (hereinafter Paper) covers Tajikistan and: (a) captures key tendencies on socio-economic development and how migration and remittances contribute to these dynamics. Along with the narrative facts, the analysis also (b) looks through the possible ways of mainstreaming climate adaptation into current socio-economic development strategies and programmes, including those targeting migration and remittances, as well as (c) health, education and financial aspects as potential drivers towards using remittances for a climate-resilient future.